Magic in Balinese elaborate blades
Once upon a time, Balinese kings and their courtiers strutted the battlements of the Royal Palace in Klungkung - a renowned artistic centre in the east of the fabled Indonesian island, near the great sacred volcano, Agung. The partly rebuilt palace still stands in the bustling town, and there’s another legacy of those colourful days that lives on today - the kris.
These fearsome wavy-edged weapons - in fact, there are also straight-edged examples - were crafted by artist-swordsmiths known as empu, who specialised in forging and folding iron and nickel into blades displaying a curious layered or striated effect known as pamor. Legend has it that much of the nickel came from meteorites that fell on the island.
As well as elaborate blades, great care was lavished on kris hilts and their T-shaped scabbards, which were fashioned from exotic woods, horn or ivory and mounted with gold and gems. The kris was, perhaps in some places still is, thought to have magical properties through which rulers could retain their powers. For this reason, kris makers were revered as sorcerers and worked under royal patronage. Many empu lived in and around Klungkung.
Magic or not, however, the kris-wielding Balinese had little chance against the superior weapons of the Dutch, who overran much of the island in the mid-19th century. Early in the 1900s, many of Bali’s last “royals” used their krisses to commit suicide.
Of course the kris was made and used in many parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines, and ranges in size from a small dagger to a sturdy short sword.
Bali is still a centre for krisses, where they are brought out for barong dance ceremonies. Like wares from all over Indonesia, they can be found in antique shops in Kuta, Legian and Kerobokan. Many krisses went back to Holland with the Dutch, and Netherlands museums have big collections. But they also turn up elsewhere in Europe, and are sometimes offered by Australian dealers and collectors of edged weapons.
A 19th century Sumatran kris with a bird-like hilt of ivory, a silver collar and traces of gilding to the blade came up on March 22 at a weapons sale at Holt’s in London’s Hammersmith. The kris fanciers had obviously nosed it out because it sold for a cool £840 ($2058) on an estimate of £150-£250 despite damage to the scabbard.
Of course krisses are by no means the only fascinating edged weapons to emanate from the remoter regions of Indonesia’s 6000 or so inhabited islands. In largely subsistence economies, knives for personal use, rituals or even harvesting particular palms lived on into the 20th century. Headhunters’ swords from Nias, sometimes complete with scabbards bearing tiger tooth amulets, are rare and spectacular.
But even smaller weapons sometimes display attractive carved hilts and scabbards, made by craftsmen using primitive tools. Both tribal art and artifact, they embody much of the skill - and perhaps a little of the sorcery - of the Balinese empu.
Peter Fish
March 31, 2007
Sourxe: Sydney Morning Herald
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